In small towns and far-flung cities, ordinary moments carry the weight of secrets that can alter a life. Ranging from the late nineteenth century to the 1990s and from rural Ontario to the Somme and the Balkans, Open Secrets is a series of interconnected stories that follow eight women at turning points in their lives. A missed letter, a sudden disappearance, an unexpected act of betrayal. Each event ripples outward, reshaping marriages, friendships and the stories people tell about themselves. From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Man Booker International Prize, Open Secrets is a landmark collection in which private lives unfold against the sweep of twentieth-century history. 'A superb collection... Marriage, gambles, disappearances, motiveless vandalism - it is the stuff of unremarkable lives, conveyed in a remarkable fashion' Independent